Resident Evil: But, Why Me?
by AwesomeMcGeeofCaledonia
Summary: Raccoon City, September 1998: Joseph Watson finds himself caught in the middle of the infamous T-Virus Outbreak. Will he be able to protect his family and his girlfriend from the horrors that await them all? Please Read and Review! Rated T for Teen
1. Prologue

**Resident Evil - But, Why Me?**

Written By: AwesomeMcGeeofCaledonia

Description: Joey Watson was just like any ordinary kid, barely into his Freshman year at Raccoon High School; that is, until a mysterious virus has been leaked into Raccoon City, turning anyone exposed to it into hellish creatures that feast on human flesh. With his entire world turned upside down by this outbreak, will Joey and everyone he cares for be able to escape this ordeal? Or, are they all doomed to become one with the undead army of zombies?

Set During the Events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

Rated T for _Very_Strong Language, Intense Bloody Violence, Suggestive References, and some Sexual Themes. At first, this story was rated M; I decided that I'd make it rated T, because most teens are mature enough to read this kind of story. It deals with a teenager, and doesn't get_too_ explicit. The f-word is said quite a bit though, along with a part that references sex.

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil; it is owned by Capcom. Also, any names used in this story are not the names of real people... they're simply names created by mixing names of people I know, therefore, any names shared with real-life people are slightly coincidental. All original characters in this story, though, ARE owned by me, and should not be used in any form of content without my permission.

Author's Note: Don't turn away just yet; this story may seem like it's not going to turn out good, but let me assure you that other stories I've written for on my other account have been well-received. Whenever I write a fanfic, I try to stay true to the original source, which is what I plan to do for this story. Having just recently beaten Resident Evil 5, I became interested in attempting a fanfic based on the RE Universe. Hopefully, you enjoy it!

Prologue

They say highschool is supposed to be the best years of your life; I'd like to find out whoever in the hell "they" are, and show them just how wrong they are. My name's Joseph Watson; Joey to most people. I'm currently attending Raccoon High School, enrolled in 9th grade. My Freshman year started about a month or two ago, and I'm already hating it. I think I'm surrounded by the worst group of kids in this entire fucking city. Sure, there's a few exceptions, but I can't believe the amount of kids in my class that are just complete weirdos. About 1/2 of the "Class of 2002" are pot-heads, 1/3 are aspiring to be whores, and 17/18 don't give a shit about their education... alright, so maybe I just pulled that last fraction out of the air, but think about those other two. I don't like to brag, but being around them makes me KNOW that I'm a good kid. I've vowed never to smoke or drink, I concentrate on academics, and I try to be nice to most of my class. Maybe that's why very few of them like me...

My family hasn't been in Raccoon City our whole lives; we moved here from a small town in Missouri about five years ago. Since then, I've gotten to know this city pretty good. I don't think I'd be able to find my way from one side of the city to the other, but I at least know my neighborhood well... then again, you should ALWAYS know your neighborhood well. I live on Fox Street, and it basically runs into all the places I DON'T want to go; school, the police station... it's a pretty boring street. Nothing ever happens in my neighborhood, and honestly, I want it to stay that way. I hear about all sorts of murders and thefts in other areas of Raccoon City, so I'd rather keep it there, y'know? Besides, I live with 5 other people, so at least I can be assured that they're safe in our neck of the woods.

Despite feeling safe, I think today was possibly the worst day of my life...

xxx

I woke up this morning, thanked God for allowing me to live another day longer, and I thought it was going to be just like any other day. I ate some breakfast, and went out the door with my older sister so we could both walk to school. We made it to school safe, and I think that's when it happened... the biggest douchebag in my entire school, Brent Vance, decided to start shit with me. The moment we walked into school, he caught sight of me. My sister walked off to try and find her friends. When Brent finally made it over to me, he immediately pushed me.

"Hey, guess what I did last night Jo-Jo?" he asked me, using the nickname I hate the most.

"I honestly don't give a shit..." I said, attempting to walk around him. He cut me off, and continued speaking in his annoying voice.

"You should," he told me. "Last night, I fucked Holly."

Once those words were out of his mouth, my blood really started to boil. Holly Scott is the girl I've been in love with since Jr. High. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember, and I didn't start liking her until half-way through 7th grade. She's the most amazing girl I've ever met, and I stupidly made my feelings toward her common knowledge. I asked her out once after I told her how I felt about her, and she shot me down. I told all my friends about it, and before I knew it, that piece of information had made it all the way around our class. She's barely talked to me since then...

I knew Brent was just being his stupid self. He knew I cared about Holly, and he was using it against me.

"Shut the fuck up," I told him, hoping that would work.

"Aw, is the little bitch gonna cry?" Brent taunted me, speaking in a baby-like tone.

He was trying to get me to hit him, just so he had an excuse to hit me back. I wasn't going to though. My record was absolutely clean, and I wasn't about to screw it up because of Brent.

"I'm not a little bitch, and I'm sure as hell not gonna cry," I assured him. "Can't you just be a dick somewhere else? How do you think Holly would feel if she knew you were going around talking about her like that?"

"Who's gonna tell her? You?" he asked me, sounding so sure of himself. "You haven't talked to her since you told her 'you would do anything for her, because you love her more than the air you breathe'."

What I said in the past sounded completely idiotic when he said it. It also pissed me off when he said it.

At that point, I was beginning to wonder if my record really mattered. It was what he said after that that pushed me over the edge.

"But anyway, about what me and her did last night," he began. "So, we're just sitting there on my bed, when all of a sudden she said she wanted to see my dick. I'm not one to protest, so I gladly showed it to her. Then, all of a sudden, she has her whole fucking head in my lap, and she's-"

That's when I cracked. I sent a right hook straight at his jaw. My fist missed his face by a full five inches, and within a second, Brent was returning fire. He also sent a right hook, only he didn't miss. I felt it connect with my jaw, and for a second, I wondered if he broke anything. My jaw was in major pain, but I wasn't about to give up. This time, I attempted an uppercut; my fist connected with the bottom of his chin, and he tumbled backwards into some lockers.

Everyone thinks that I'm some scrawny nerd; luckily, my oldest sister's husband had taught me quite a few moves to use against guys like Brent.

"Wow Watson, you do know how to fight," Brent mockingly complimented me. "Too bad I know how to fight better."

He head-butted me - yeah, he head-butted me... I never thought anyone would actually do that - and that was when I passed out.

I woke up inside the nurse's office, feeling like Brent was right when he called me a "little bitch".

XXX

God, just make this day end already! I'm probably gonna be in major trouble with the principal, and I'm sure once this gets around, I'm gonna be viewed as a loser forever... could life get ANY worse?

XXX

Author's Note: Alright, so you're probably wondering, "What in the hell does this have to do with Resident Evil?" For the prologue, I just wanted to get Joey's character established so you could get a feel of what he's going to be like... basically, this whole prologue was about the Joey vs Brent segment, but it also served to show that Joey has an arch-nemesis, and there's also going to be a love interest. The end of the prologue though, should be enough to tell you that something IS going to happen soon... and if you know anything about Resident Evil, or if you read the description, then you should already know what that something is... something big..


	2. The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Chapter 1 - The First Day of the Rest of My Life

September 28th, 1998 - Monday

My dad picked me up from school. I don't think I've ever seen him more disappointed with me in my entire life. He just walked right into the Principal's office, ensured him that this was my first offense and that it wouldn't happen again, and then we were out the door.

The ride home was epecially silent, and I began to feel that what I did was stupid. My dad was extrememly pissed, I could tell, but he did a good job at making it look like it wasn't the end of the world to him. I fucked everything up just to get back at Brent, and it made my dad lose pride in me.

I decided to speak up, hoping that I could at least get him to accept an apology.

"Uh, Dad," I began. "I know what I did was stupid, and... well, it definitely wasn't worth messing up my record, but you have to hear me out; Brent started it. He was being stupid, and-"

"Joey, I know," my dad replied. "I went through the same shit when I was in school son. The thing is, though, that your mom and I have told you your whole life that you can't go around attacking people just because you get into an argument with them. I do agree with you that Brent should have took the brunt of all this, but what you did wasn't right either."

"But Dad, you don't understand!" I protested. "He-"

"No 'buts'," Dad replied sternly. I decided that he wasn't going to listen, so I just looked out my window. The world seemed to slow down at that instant, as anger flushed through my entire body.

This was all Brent's fault... if he wouldn't have tried to start anything with me, my dad wouldn't be angry at me right now. What did I ever even do to Brent?

Suddenly, the car slowed down, and I saw that we arrived at our destination: home. Our two-story brick-house looked a lot more depressing than usual. I quickly exited the vehicle, and rushed to our door. I barged in, surprised that the door was unlocked. I saw my younger brother sitting at the dinner table, stuffing his face as usual.

"I heard you got written up," he said, food flying from his mouth. "I thought you were supposed to be the 'good kid'."

"Shut up, fatty," I yelled back at him, hurrying upstairs to my room.

"Mom, Joey just called me a 'fatty'!" I heard him scream. "Mom! Moooooooom!"

I slammed my door behind me, hoping the barricade would cut off his obnoxious sound waves. Luckily, it made his yelling quieter and muffled, so it didn't bother me as much. I walked back over to my door, and locked it. Deciding there was nothing better to do, I dropped myself onto my bed, half wishing I would fall asleep the moment I hit the mattress.

My room didn't look as despressing as the house did when I viewed it; my room actually felt inviting to me... then again, it was my room. Slowly, my thoughts drifted from that of my room, to Holly.

Like I said, she's the most amazing girl I've ever met. She's smart, funny, nice, she has a GREAT personality... she's beautiful... normally, I don't think about her body, but these days, she looks like the sexiest girl to walk the Earth. A piece of information I know of that nobody else does actually makes me laugh out loud. It makes me feel special to know it, to know that she told me... I'm not sure why she did, but she did. That piece of information, is Holly's bra size. I imagine the look that would be on Brent's face if I told him I knew, and I start to laugh. I figured the douchebag would find out before the nice guy, but nope. This time, the nice guy finished first.

Eventually, my thoughts about Holly turned into sadness when I remembered that we hadn't talked to eachother for a while... I want to be with her so badly, but I can't.

I decided to watch TV instead, hoping that would take my mind off of Holly. I flipped through about 74 channels before deciding to watch the news of all things.

Channel 7 News; it's actually a pretty good news-team. They have some pretty good stories on there occasionally, so I figured that they would have another one now.

I listened to the voiceover of Richard Morgan, one of the anchormen.

"These deaths have been reported by police officials, as having similar properties to the deaths of various residents back in July, during the infamous time known as, 'The Arklay Mountains Incident." Richard droned on while extremely graphic pictures came up on the screen.

I had no idea you could show things like that on the news... there were pictures of people with their faces half-way ripped off, and a lot of open-wounds over their bodies. It took me a while to realize how much blood was actually shown in the pictures; it was everywhere. I wasn't sure if I'd ever seen anything so gruesome.

"Police still haven't found out what the cause of these deaths are, but they've become increasingly worried. The previous deaths were believed to be the cause of wild bears, or some other potentially violent creatures that could be found in the Arklay Mountains region. These new deaths, however, have taken place inside Raccoon City, causing many to believe that humans are responsible for the deaths of the individuals in both the Arklay Mountains Incident and this currently developing case."

I turned off the TV. That was some crazy shit... I began to wonder what would happen if those killers ever came to Fox Street. NOBODY would be safe...

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I called to whoever it was. My door slowly opened, and my mom stepped in. She had a look like my dad's on her face.

"It's time for dinner," she informed me in a sad tone, before turning around and leaving the room.

That was when I completely realized that what I did to Brent wasn't worth it at all... but that was the past, and there was nothing I could do to change it. I hurried downstairs to find everyone was already seated at the table. My two sisters, my brother, and my parents... and none of them looked too happy. Then again, even whenever I don't get into fights, my family never really looked too cheerful.

I took my seat at the table by my younger sister. Taking a look at the meal laid out in front of us, I noted that we were getting a serving of pizza... for the third night in a row.

I wasted no time grabbing a slice though; I was tired of it, but that didn't mean I disliked it. As I took my first bite, the doorbell suddenly rang. It was dark outside, so I looked up at the microwave's clock to my right: 9:13 P.M. it read. Normally we didn't get visitors that late at night.

The doorbell rang again, and still nobody moved. I decided I'd get it.

"Does anyone know how to answer the door?" I sarcastically asked, hurrying to the front room to open the door.

The moment I opened the door, I was greeted by Holly's beautiful face. My eyes lit up as she looked back at me.

"Hol-... Holly?" I asked, to make sure my eyes weren't messing with me.

"The one and only!" she replied.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered with a smile on my face. She smiled back.

"Uhm... here, come outside," Holly told me, and I obeyed.

"Hey, I'll be back in a minute!" I called to my family. Surprisingly, nobody asked me what was up, and I shut the door as I stepped out. She grabbed my arm, and pulled me over to the edge of the porch. We both sat down, and she moved _her_ hand down from my arm, to _my_ hand. I started to sweat a little.

"I heard what happened this morning..."she told me, her voice trailing off, and her grip tightening on my hand.

"It doesn't surprise me... the fight was in the middle of the hall," I told her, acting like I wasn't nervous.

"No, I mean... about what caused the fight," she told me in an embarrassed voice. "Somebody overheard, and told me about what Brent said..."

I hadn't even realized there were more people then me and Brent by those lockers. But, it didn't surprise me; somebody's always eavesdropping I guess.

"Oh, you heard about that?" I asked her, repeating what she already told me. "I just... I thought that was fucked up of him-"

"Hey!" she called out, smiling.

"What?" I asked her, freaked out by her sudden yelling.

"You know I don't like the 'f-word'!" She told me.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I do... sorry," I apologized. "I thought it was _screwed _up of him to say that about you... I kinda just snapped, y'know?"

"Well, I appreciate you standing up for me... and honestly, you couldn't have chose a better time," she told me, her beautiful smile growing even bigger. I smiled back, slowly catching on, until my smile was as big as hers.

"Why's that?" I asked her, acting as if I didn't know what was going on in her head.

"Ever since you told me how you felt last year... I've been doing some thinking. It was wrong of me to reject you."

Once those last few words were out of her mouth, my entire world suddenly exploded. My head started to spin, and I felt like I was going to start dancing around like an idiot. The girl I loved was actually telling me that she liked me back!

"You mean...?" I began, leaving the question open.

"Joey, I would _love _to be your girlfriend." Her smile slowly faded, and her face started to move towards mine.

_What's she-... _I started to think, before I realized; Holly was trying to kiss me. Slowly, I moved my face towards hers, until our lips met.

I wanted that moment to last forever... it was perfect. I turned slightly, and pulled her closer to me, almost following over onto her in the process. I pulled her into my lap, and she laughed, breaking away from me for a moment before she continued to kiss me. After what felt like forever, we finally broke off for good, and I held her close to me, her head under my chin.

"Do you really love me?" she asked, looking up from where she was. It took me a minute to answer her... I mean, I already had my answer, but I was thinking abut why it was my answer. Suddenly, she looked up at me. "You _do_ love me, right?"

This time, I looked right into her eyes, and answered.

"More than anything in the world," I told her as a smile came across her face once more. We sat there for a minute, losing ourselves in eachother's eyes. I couldn't believe it at all; here I was, Joey Watson, the most unluckiest kid in the world, with the greatest thing in the world: Holly Scott.

"This... this isn't a joke, is it?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yup, this is all a joke. Any moment now, some guys with cameras are gonna come out of those bushes," she told me, pointing to a pair of bushes by the side of the road. Obviously, she was joking.

"So, what's up? Why haven't we talked in so long?" I asked her.

"I... I didn't want to make things awkward for you. Besides, I was thinking about how I felt about you... I didn't want to mess anything up." She replied in a serious tone.

"Mess things up? With me? We've been best friends ever since I moved here! How could you mess anything up?" I asked her, forgetting how I thought I messed things up with her.

"I don't know..." she told me, her gaze drifting up to the sky. "I wasn't sure if you were going to want me still... after all, I made you look stupid, didn't I? I've been mad at myself ever since then..."

"Holly, it wasn't your fault. You weren't sure how you felt about me then..." I told her. "Actually, this whole thing's kinda funny... I've been thinking about you all day; EVEN whenever I was unconscious." She laughed at that. Her laugh made me melt right then. I decided I wanted to kiss her again.

I moved my face to her's, and our lips met again. Suddenly, the front door opened behind us.

"Ooooooohhhhh," came a gasp from behind us. We instantly broke apart then, and turned around. It was my little sister with the goofiest grin on her face. "Joey and Holly sittin' in a tree-"

I acted like I was going to charge at her, and she ran back inside, slamming the door behind her.

"Your sister is so cute!" Holly told me.

I laughed. "Yeah, maybe when she's not making my life a living hell!" I stopped, trying to recall if the 'h-word' bothered Holly. It apparently didn't, because she just laughed along.

Then, the words I was dreading to hear her say came out of her mouth.

"Well, I guess I'd better get back home," she told me. She only lived right across the road from us, but if she left, it'd feel like she was 1,000 miles away.

"You sure you can't stay a little longer?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she assured me. "I told my parents I was going to walk around the block for a little bit and then head back."

"Wait a minute; a walk at 9 o'clock at night?" I asked her. "And they bought it?"

"Yup," she told me, giggling. "They are pretty gullible I guess... but, I don't want them to think I ran away or something."

She stood in front of me, just staring. Then, she brushed a piece of my hair away from my eyes; yeah, my hair was pretty shaggy. Technically, it was on the rim of my glasses and _not _in my eyes, but she found it necessary to brush it over anyway.

"Uhm... you want me to walk you to school tomorrow?" I asked her.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" she replied, smiling.

It made me want to kiss her... again! This time, it only lasted a few seconds, and we broke away. I put my hands on her waist, and I held her close for a moment.

"I love you," I whispered into her ear.

"I love you too," she whispered back. And then, she turned and walked away. I watched her walk across the road, and then she entered her house.

That's whenever I realized the amount of police sirens going off. There were literally at least twenty, all scattered around Raccoon City. I thought nothing of it though, and returned inside of my own home. Everyone was gone from the table, and it was just me in the kitchen. I decided I'd finish my slice of pizza, and then take a shower before drifting off to sleep.

It was a good day... sure, it started off really shitty, but look at me now! This is the first day of the rest of my life! I'm on top of the world, and _nothing's _gonna bring me down!

XXX

Author's Note: Personally, I think I did better with this chapter than the prologue; than again, the actual story is always better than the prologue. Now right now, there still hasn't been anything that Resident Evil is famous for... just stick around for the next chapter. Also, check out the date at the top... yeah, remember what day Resident Evil 2 started on?


	3. The World's Gone to Hell

Chapter 2 - The World's Gone to Hell

September 29th, 1998 - Tuesday

I woke to the sound of police sirens; there were even more than I had heard the previous night after my talk with Holly.

_Oh no! What if something happened at Holly's house?!_ I quickly jumped out of bed, but not before catching a quick look at my alarm clock's time-display; it was 4:57 A.M. As tired as I was, I still managed to make it to my window. I pushed the curtains out of the way a little, and peeked outside; there was a massive build-up of cars. There were probably seven cop cars and thirteen vehicles owned by just random people scattered all over Fox Street. The police sirens along with the constant blaring of car horns ensured that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep... at least, not without trying real hard.

I decided I'd go downstairs and see if someone else was up. Once I reached the bottom of the staircase, I spotted my parents and my older sister, Leslie, standing in the living room.

"What's going on?" I asked. They had all obviously been whispering, because my normal-volume voice startled them.

"What the hell are you doing up at 5:00 in the morning?" Dad asked me. I gave him a "What are you talking about?" look.

"I heard police sirens outside!" I exclaimed. "It sounds like they're everywhere!"

"That's because they are, dear," Mom told me. "We just watched the news; apparently there's a group of serial killers on the loose, and they've already killed a lot of people in Downtown Raccoon City."

"They haven't killed anyone from around here, have they?" I asked, starting to really worry about Holly.

"Not from what we've seen," Mom assured me. "They said that these killers have been on the loose for some time though, because they think they had something to do with a bunch of deaths a few months ago."

"You mean the 'Arklay Mountains' thing?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

"Alright, well you guys stay here," I said, rushing for the door.

"Whoa, where in the hell do you think you're going?!" Dad called after me.

"I have to check on Holly!" I yelled to him.

"Are you insane?! There's killers on the loose!" He yelled at me.

"I'm just going across the street," I told him, and I ran out the door, knowing he may very well be coming after me.

Outside was a horrible sight; not only were the cars that had been piled up on fire, I could also make out bodies littered around and inside the vehicles.

_What the fuck happened here? _I thought as I looked at the surrounding carnage. _I thought Mom said the news made sure there were no deaths from this area...?_

I heard some moaning coming from one of the the vehicles, but I thought nothing of it. Whoever was dying was far beyond my help. I hurried past the burning wreckage, and I finally made it to Holly's front yard.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" came a scream from inside. It was definitely female. I had to hurry.

I quickly grabbed for the door knob on the front door, and pulled hard. Dammit; locked. Looking to my left, I saw a window. It was just low enough for me to bust out, and still be able to climb through. I looked around the ground for something I could possibly use to throw at the window; luckily, there happened to be a shoe about ten feet away from me, sitting by one of the burning cars. I ran over to it, picked it up, and checked its weight. For a shoe, it was extremely heavy. I slung it at the window, and it luckily busted out enough glass for me to climb into the house through it. At the same time the glass burst, the high-pitched scream I had heard got even louder. It was definitely Holly's scream.

I climbed through the window, cutting my hands while pulling myself over it. Holly's screaming sounded like it was coming from upstairs. I ran to the steps, turned the bannister, and hopped up the stairs. Once I reached the top, I clearly saw why Holly was screaming. There was something pushing up against a door; I assumed that she was on the other side of that door, trying to keep the thing out. Thinking about what I should do, I decided that I should try to attack it with something. Just as my eyes searched the hallway for an item to use, the creature suddenly turned around, like it sensed me.

The creature was possibly the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen in my life; its eyes were sunken into its head, its skin rotting and peeling off in a brownish-green color. I noted the creature's right shoulder; it had literally been ripped apart. The creature had looked like a corpse of a human being... but that wasn't possible; humans can't come back to life, it was a fact. It actually even looked like one of the victims from the news story I'd seen the day before.

As I continued to stare at the creature, it walked toward me with its arms outsretched, a deep moaning and groaning emiting from it. It took me a moment to realize what was going on; I had only one way out of this.

I bolted down the hallway for the stairs behind me. Running as fast as I could, I actually almost tripped down the steps. Luckily, I made it to the bottom unharmed, and I looked to see if the creature was following me. It had attempted to follow, but it failed miserably. Whatever the thing was had horrible legs I'd guessed, because the moment it reached the first step, it fell down, hitting every step on its way down back to the ground. Blood shot from its mouth each time it hit a step, and I was beginning to think it was going to be dead once it reached the bottom.

The creature hit the floor with a sick "SPLAT!" spraying blood everywhere. Holly was still screaming upstairs.

"Holly!" I yelled up to her. I ran back up the steps, not even bothering to see if the monster was dead. I knocked on the door the monster had been pushing on, and I heard some whimpering.

"J-Jo-Joey?" I heard Holly's unmistakable voice studder on the other side.

"Don't worry Holly, I'm here," I told her. There was a clicking noise as the door was unlocked, and then opened. Holly pulled me inside, and then closed the door and locked it. There was a woman inside the room with us, and I assumed it was Holly's mom.

"What was that thing?!" I asked her, doubting she'd know either. "It looked like a person... but..."

"That was my father," she told me, tears flowing down her face. "He just... he changed into that thing."

That thing had been Holly's dad... how in the hell did he change into a monster like that? He had looked like a zombie from one of those low-budget horror movies from the 60's... well, only grosser.

"That was your dad?!" I asked her. "How did that happen?"

Her mom stepped forward, opening her mouth to speak.

"I got up out of bed to use the bathroom, and he was standing over me..." she told me, shaken. "He tried to bite me, but I pushed him off of me... oh God, what happened?"

Whatever had happened to him, I knew it probably couldn't be fixed. But it did get me thinking; how the fuck did he become _that_? I'd never read about anything factual like that in my life.

"I'm sorry... I don't know what's happened to him, but I don't think we can fix it," I told them, feeling like a doctor telling a patient that they were going to die. "We need to get out of here; you guys can stay with my family at our house. We'll explain what happened, they'll understand... well, they'll understand as much as we do."

"How can you be sure he can't be helped?" Holly's mom asked me, completely in denial.

"Mrs. Scott... he fell down your stairs... I don't think he made it," I sad to her sadly. She began to uncontrolably cry. "Now, if we don't get out of here, I think whatever happened to him is gonna happen to us."

I grabbed Holly's hand and walked off, pulling her. I could hear her mom's footsteps behind us. We quickly walked down the stairs, almost tripping over Mr. Scott's corpse. Holly's mom dropped to her knees by the body.

"Oh George... oh God, George!" she cried, leaning over the body. "What did we do to deserve this?"

For some reason, the whole time I was expecting Mr. Scott to return to life, and attack Mrs. Scott. Luckily, that never happened. After a minute or two, she stood up.

"Alright, let's go," she told me.

I unlocked the front door, opened it, and we walked outside.

I blocked the sight of all the bodies out this time, and ignored them. I concentrated solely on getting us to my home. After a few seconds, we were on the porch.

It reminded me of the night before; me and Holly sitting there with life completely normal, our whole lives ahead of us...

I rapped on the door about twenty times before it finally opened. Dad stared blankly back at the three of us.

"What happened?" he asked me, his eyes darkened.

"Um, I'm actually not really sure," I told him honestly, and walked inside with Holly and her mom in tow. I pulled Holly up the stairs, leaving her mom to mingle with my parents.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"My room," I replied when we reached the top of the stairs. I opened the door to my room, and shut it once we were both inside. I sat on my bed, and she followed.

"I'm sorry," I told her. I laid back on my bed, and she laid back resting her head on the crook of my arm. "We're going to find out what happened to your dad, I promise..."

"Joey, what's going on?" she asked me. "Last night was great, it was the best night of my life, and now? Now... the world's gone to Hell." She started to cry, and I pulled her closer to me.

"Don't worry," I told her, hoping she'd calm down. "Like I said, we're gonna find out what happened... we'll go to sleep, and when we wake up, we'll be in seperate houses again... it'll all turn out to have been just a nightmare."

"Joey, you know that's not true... this is not a nightmare... this is the real world," she said. "Why was it my dad that this had to happen to? Why couldn't it have been someone else?"

"I don't know," I told her. "Actually, I want to check something out."

I picked up the remote from the end table sitting by my bed. I pressed the large red button at the top of the remote, and my TV came on. Instead of some early-morning re-run of Seinfeld or an infomercial, the blank screen of my TV was replaced by images of a city area... Downtown Raccoon City is what the caption at the bottom said.

"I've never seen anything more horrible," the terrified voice of a woman said. "Raccoon City has become the site of a major biohazard; civilians have been turned into flesh-eating creatures of the night, and it seems as if they're numbers are growing. As of now, the source of their transformations hasn't been identified... this is truly an unbelievable story. Science can't explain the events currently playing out... whatever's going on, it seems that nobody can stop it. We-"

She was suddenly interrupted by a noise I had heard earlier; the moaning and groaning of those monsters. Holly and I watched in horror as one of those zombie-like creatures stepped into the camera's view, and attacked the reporter. She screamed momentarily, and then fell to the ground. The view then changed as the camera was dropped. We could hear the footsteps of somebody running off; presumably the cameraman. Suddenly, at least fifty zombies walked into the shot behind the first one that had appeared. That's when I turned the TV off.

"Oh my God!" Holly called out. "What's going on? Seriously Joey! Oh God... what's going on...?" I pulled her closer to me than I'd ever before. I stroked the back of her head.

"It's going to be fine..." I told her. "It's going to be fine... let's just go to sleep. If something happens, our parents will tell us."

It was strange... sleeping in the same bed as Holly. That night, I'd felt a lot more grown-up than I was; taking control of the situation and acting bravely about all of it... maybe I was just being stupid.

Eventually, Holly fell asleep, but I couldn't, and it wasn't just because of the sirens and car horns outside. I kissed her neck, and held her tightly.

I didn't know what was going on at all, but one thing was for certain; Holly was right: the world _had_ gone to Hell.

XXX

Author's Note: There you have it people! The first sign that this actually is a Resident Evil fanfic! An actual zombie-encounter... of course, there may or may not but definitely will be more of those to come. Let me know if you're liking the story so far, and what your thoughts and opinions on it are! Constructive-criticism is always welcome: and remember, I said _constructive_!


	4. Does Anybody Know What's Going On?

Chapter 3 - Does Anybody Know What's Going On?

September 29th, 1998 - Tuesday

I dreamed that night (well technically that morning)... it was a good dream. In it, Holly and I were married, and it looked like it was a good marriage. It was very strange though; I was only a Freshman, and I already loved a girl more than anything... I was so young. But there she was; if I only I could've stayed in that dream forever...

I woke up a few hours after I fell asleep; looking over at my alarm clock, I saw that it was 9:00 A.M. Holly was still fast asleep. There was no sunshine seeping in through the curtains meaning it was a cloudy day. I kissed Holly's neck, and she stirred a little bit. She didn't wake up though. I quietly got out of bed, and walked over to my window to get a better view.

The cars from earlier that morning were still there, though there was no reason that they wouldn't be. The flames emitting from the engines had seemed to die down though. Since it was much lighter now, I could make out the bodies I had seen by the cars. There was something wrong though... the bodies were moving. But, they were pinned underneath the vehicles... I couldn't get a good look at them, so I wasn't able to tell what they looked like. I was surprised though; they should have been dead by now, shouldn't they?

My thoughts were interrupted whenever I was tapped on my shoulder. I quickly spun around. It was just Holly.

"I didn't hear you get up," I informed her. She looked like she hadn't gotten much more sleep than I had, even though she fell sleep an hour or two before me.

"Well, I didn't want to make a whole bunch of noise just to get out of bed," she replied. She looked out the window. "Are those people _moving_ down there?!"

"Yeah, I think so..." I told her. "They were moving whenever I went to go get you and your mom earlier too... I figured they'd have been dead by now."

I walked over to my TV and pressed the "POWER" button. There was a buzz of static, and an image suddenly formed. It was a "Standby" signal... I'd never actually seen one on any local stations before. Whatever was happening, it was apparently affecting all of Raccoon City. Of course, I already knew that after watching that news footage from earlier, but this confirmed it. This was something big...

"Uhm, Holly? I think we should get downstairs," I told her, making for the door.

"Why's that?" she asked me. "Aren't we safe right now?"

"That's the problem..." I began. "I have no freakin' clue."

I opened my door, and we both stepped out into the hallway. I made my way downstairs, followed by Holly.

"Mom? Dad?" I called out, expecting an immediate reply. I walked into the family room to find my parents and Mrs. Scott seated on the couch.

"Joseph William Watson!" Mom yelled. "Can't you see we're talking to Laura!"

I had always wondered what Mrs. Scott's name was.

"Oh, my bad," I apologized. "Sorry Mrs. Scott."

"No worries," she replied, smiling. I could tell she was dead on the inside though, and her red, tear covered face didn't help in disproving it. She'd lost her husband, and now her daughter's life could be at stake.

I made my way out of the family room, and into the hallway that held the rooms to my younger brother and sister. I hadn't even bothered to check Leslie's room upstairs.

I knocked on Braeden's, my brother's, door. I then opened the door without waiting for him to get it. He was sitting up on his bed, rubbing hid eyes and yawning.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked him, feeling bad that I had denied him a few more hours rest. Besides, it looked like we weren't going to be doing anything anyway.

"Huh?" Braeden asked. "Oh, no... I've been up. I was just looking around when you knocked on the door."

I wasn't sure if he knew what was going on... then again, he was twelve years old, so there was no need he couldn't handle it. We were being attacked by monsters, why wouldn't that scare a twelve year old?

"Uhm... you know what's going on, right?" I asked him. "We're, uhm... well, I don't know how to explain it. Just, don't be loud today, and _don't_ go outside. Also, Holly and her mom are here, so don't start any of your shit."

"Oooohhhhhhhhhh!" he gasped. "Did you just say sh-?"

I closed the door before he could finish. I didn't care if he decided to tell my parents. They'd probably be accepting given the circumstances. I decided I'd check on my younger sister next. Her door was already open, so I just peered in. She was still asleep. There was no point in telling her what was going on, because she was only seven years old... not only would she probably not fully understand the situation, I wouldn't want to worry her if she did comprehend a little bit of it.

I stood at her doorway. I thought about how easy she must have had it... she had nothing to worry about at all.

Finally, I decided to turn away. Seeing Holly behind me frightened me this time around; I had forgotten she followed me.

"Did I scare you?" she giggled.

"No, I just... I forgot you were with me, that's all," I lied, feeling embarrassed. "I wish we could somehow find out what's going on... I mean, Channel 7 was down this morning, so who's to say other news stations aren't down too?"

"How could we figure anything out anyway?" she asked me. "Earlier they acted like they had no idea what was going on. I don't think anyone knows..."

She was right; there was probably no one in the city who knew just what in the hell was going on. All we knew was that a lot of people had suddenly become zombie-like creatures... we didn't know how or why. Holly's dad was the only one of these new monsters we had encountered. He seemed pretty dead to me when I found him... which isn't possible, because if he was dead, how was he walking around? Maybe a part of him was dead, I didn't know. All I knew was that he wasn't a human anymore whenever I found him; he was something completely different.

"I just don't know what to do," I groaned. I sank to the ground, burying my face in my hands. Thinking was getting me nowhere...

"It's okay," she told me. "We'll figure it out..."

I looked up at her, a smile on my face.

"Wasn't I the one that told _you _that less than five hours ago?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"Maybe," and she flashed me her oh-so beautiful smile. I was surprised to see her in such a good mood; what with our current predicament and the death of her father.

Suddenly, Dad burst into the hallway.

"Joey, get your sister," he said as he opened up Braeden's bedroom door.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked him, my pulse racing wildly.

"Braeden, come on son," he told Braeden, who quickly ran out of his room. He turned back to me. "We have to go down into the basement, now get your sister!"

I ran into my little sister's room, and gently picked her up. She started to cry a little from being woken up after such a long sleep.

"Shhhhh! Sarah, we have to go down into the basement," I told her. "Just please be quiet."

I quickly walked out of her room, when Holly looked at me with fear on her face.

"What do you think is going on?" she asked me.

"We'll find out," I replied. We followed everyone to the kitchen, and then through a door placed behind the kitchen table. The staircase leading down to the basement hadn't been used in years... well, at least not by me. The basement's humidity was almost unbearable, as was its smell. The scent of mildew was everywhere.

"Alright everyone have a seat over here," Dad said, pointing over to a couple couches. We all did as we were told. I held Sarah close to me, her heart pounding.

"Dad, what's going on?" I asked of him.

"Six, seven... wait a minute, where's Leslie?" Dad asked, looking for my sister. My heart really started racing; wherever Leslie was, she was up there with whatever reason Dad had us come down here.

"I'm right here, Dad," Leslie announced, standing up. My pulse returned to normal upon seeing her.

"Oh... well, then I guess we're all here," Dad said. The moment the words were out of his mouth, the lights suddenly flickered, and after a few seconds, they went out.

"A power outage?!" Mom yelled. "Rob, what are we going to do now?"

"Dad, what's going on?" I interrupted. "Why are we down here?!"

My dad took a deep breath; I couldn't really see him well, but I could hear him.

"Alright... I'm not sure if you saw them, but there have been some kind of creatures running around the city since early this morning. The news is calling them zombies," he started.

So, they _were _zombies after all... it still made no fucking sense at all though.

"Those 'serial killers' we though were going around; they were the zombies. Apparently, people are being turned into them everytime they're bitten, so as long as we're down here, we're safe," Dad assured me.

"You realize how rediculous that sounds, right?" I asked him. "Zombies...?"

"That's what the news said," he told me in a firm voice. "Now-"

He was cut off by that same moaning noise I'd heard more times than I'd cared to before. Whatever was happening, it didn't sound good; in fact, it sounded like the zombies were right on top of us... inside the house.

XXX

A/N: Meh... maybe I won't have author's notes at the end of every chapter from now on... it kinda seems like it may get annoying. Plus, I don't want your final memories of a chapter being those of an author's note. Also, yes I noticed this chapter was shorter than the others... sort of. Well, tell me what you think of it _now_! Hopefully, it's getting a lot better for you!


	5. You Know How to Use One of These?

Chapter 4 - You Know How To Use One of These?

September 29th, 1998 - Tuesday

I hadn't been so scared in years; not only did we hear one of the zombies upstairs, but soon after that, we heard about four different moans... there were five zombies, all above us. I hoped that Dad had locked the door behind us whenever we came down here, and then I remembered; Holly and I were the last to get down here.

"Holly," I whispered to her. "Did you lock the door whenever we came down here?"

"Umh..." she began. "Actually, I didn't even think to _shut_ it." I heard the fear in her voice; it was true terror.

That's whenever I realized... we were truly screwed. If those things figured out we were downstairs, they would tear us apart.

"Dad, what are we going to do?" I whispered to my father.

"Shhhhhh," he scolded me. "Be quiet..."

We could hear the zombies shuffle around above us.. they sounded like they hit and awful lot of things.

"But Dad, we didn't shut the door," I admitted to him. I couldn't quite see his face due to the lack of lighting in the room, but I knew that his jaw had just dropped about six miles below where we sat.

"You... you... didn't shut the door?" he stuttered. Slowly, he stood up. I knew what he was going to do; he was going to shut the door. I couldn't let him though; he would risk his life going up there again. What if the zombies were right by the steps?

"No Dad, you can't go back up there," I argued. "If they find you, they'll kill you!"

"I am not going to let those things come down here and hurt all of _you_, though," he replied. "I'm going to shut that door, whether I'm killed or not."

He briskly walked off. I watched him climb up the first set of steps, and then he disappeared from my sight behind a wall.

I waited... and waited.

Suddenly, the power flickered back on. I heard a moan. And then I heard a deep-voiced yell.

"DAD!" I screamed.

I handed Sarah over to Holly, and quickly ran to the bottom of the steps. I looked up, and immediately my heart sank. One of the fuckers had a hold of Dad. It hadn't looked like they'd done anything to him though, but they were definitely trying to bite him. He was holding them at bay though; if I was able to get up there and help him somehow... I was never able to finish that thought. Two more of the creatures appeared, and grabbed a hold of Dad. They all ripped him apart, limb by limb.

"DAD!" I screamed again. "Get away from him you bastards!"

I ran up the steps, knowing there was no way I could save my father... he was already dead.

"Get the fuck away from him!" I yelled at the creatures. "Get out of here!"

Suddenly, the zombies all turned their attention towards me. I had to get back downstairs. It all reminded me of being at Holly's house earlier that morning; only that time, there was one zombie I had to worry about. If these things chased after me and fell down the steps, they would roll right into me. I would either fall also, or be eaten in the process. Neither of those options really sounded good. It turned out, I didn't even need to worry about that anyway...

Somehow, these zombies could walk down the stairs.

"Everyone!" I yelled to the others. "Hurry, use the backdoor! These things are coming down the stairs!"

I forgot for a few seconds that Dad was dead. I expected him to pick me up, and carry me to the exit. I expected him to tell me, "Make sure they're all getting out Joey!", or "Good job son, way to take action!".

None of those things ever happened... Dad was dead, I'd watched him die.

I heard movement in the other room.

"The backdoor is this way!" I heard Mom yell. I heard a lot of footsteps when I finally made it to the bottom of the steps. I knew my way around this basement; had the power still been out, I would've still been able to find my way to the exit. That's when I got an idea; maybe if the lights were out, the zombies wouldn't be able to tell where we were going!

There were only two lights in the entire basement anyway, so turning them off wouldn't be a problem. The first light switch was just to my left; I flipped it off, and half of the basement's light source shut off. The other one would be on my way to the exit. I sprinted for the exit, when suddenly my foot collided with something on the floor, and I tripped.

_Aw, fuck!_ I thought as pain shot up through my left leg. I looked down at my leg; my kneecap had blood trickling out of it. Just a mere scrap I figured, but it would be Hell to walk on. I wished little things like this didn't bother me; but if I got into even the most non-threatening accident, I would still come out of it with some type of set-back. I tried to pull myself up, using my left leg in the process. It hurt so bad, but I kept going. Slowly, I got back to my feet, and from the sound of it, the zombies were almost to the bottom of the steps. I limped over to the second light switch, flipped it off, and then the remaining half of the basement's light source went out.

Mission accomplished.

I turned for the backdoor; luckily, whoever the last person out was hadn't bothered to shut it, which would save me some valuable seconds. If I didn't get outside before the zombies were able to see me, my injury would have been for nothing, and my idea would have failed.

I hopped to the backdoor, and made it outside. I quietly shut the door behind me and took off, pain still shooting up in my leg. I climbed the steps that led back up to ground-level. I couldn't see anyone though; where had they all gone? But what I saw told me _why_ they had left this area; there were zombies, **EVERYWHERE**.

Because of me, we had all stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Fox Street looked absolutely horrible. I was able to make out what the bodies pinned under the cars looked like now; they were zombies themselves. That person I had heard on my way to Holly's wasn't a person at all. Thank God I hadn't stopped to help.

I wasn't sure if any of the zombies had seen me or not... they weren't attacking me, or taking any notice in me for that matter, so I figured I was safe for the time being. Just as long as I didn't draw attention to myself...

I looked around just a little bit more, to see if there were any signs as to where everyone had gone. Unfortunately, there were none. I collapsed to my knees.

_Dad's dead... everyone's gone... the world's fucking crazy... no way out..._

I couldn't concentrate on just one thing; everything was wrong. I was most likely going to be dead before the day was over. And I had a whole damn day ahead of me, what with it being _maybe _about 10:00 A.M. at that time.

I had no more options left; where could I go? If I did get somewhere, what would I do? How could I find my family and friends again? What caused all of this in the first place? I know this could have happened to anyone in the world... but, why me? Why did I have to go through this at such a young age? Hell, nobody no matter how old or young they are should have to go through something like this!

_No hope... no hope..._

My scrambled thoughts were suddenly interrupted by exploding gunshots from all around; I jumped up, frightened.

I couldn't believe it; I'd only saw them a few times in my life.

It was S.T.A.R.S., the Raccoon Police Department's special task force. They were ripping all the zombies in the area apart with their machineguns, dropping about four every second. Finally, the shots stopped. There were still some zombies standing, but they were too far to cause any real problems yet.

One of the officers, a black man who looked like he could tear someone apart without the help of machineguns, walked over to me. I attempted to read his I.D. badge hanging off his green vest, but it was too dirty to make out at all.

"You," he pointed at me. "What are you doing out here? Where are your parents?"

I just looked up at him, staring in awe. He was like a modern-day knight; at least by the way he stood, and the authority he showed in his voice.

"HEY!" he yelled, snapping me out of my trance. "I asked you a question, kid."

"S-s-sorry," I stammered. "I was just in my house... those- those monsters broke into our home... they killed my dad. I tried to get my family out, and I lost them when we all got out here..."

"Hmmm..." he sighed, pondering about something in his head. He turned around. "Hey, Marvin, we got any place to take this kid?"

Another black man walked towards me.

"We can't take him back to the station with us... place is probably crawling with these damn things," Marvin told the man. "Hell, he looks old enough to take care of himself! Just give him a gun, and let him-"

"Funny," the man interrupted in an annoyed tone. He turned back to me. "What's your name kid?"

"Uhm... Joseph Watson," I told him.

"Well, I'll tell you what..." he turned back towards Marvin. "Marvin, you and the others head back to the station. I'll try to get back soon. If these things are inside the station as well, take out as many as you can. We _cannot _afford to lose the station."

"Where are you going then?" Marvin asked him. "You're gonna need more ammo soon, aren't you?"

"Don't worry about me," the man replied. "I'll find some ammo... Hell, maybe Kendo is still selling?"

"Nope," Marvin replied. "Last I heard, he got fucked up by these things. Poor bastard's dead."

The bigger man's face suddenly twisted into that of confusion.

"Where'd you hear that?" he asked.

"Barry told me," Marvin shrugged. "Said he ran into that new rookie we were supposed to be getting. Rookie told him old Kendo got attacked by the things, and then he _became_ one of them too."

"Barry Burton? I thought he was in Canada? Well, he picked a bad time to come bak to Raccoon City. But, that's a shame about Kendo..." the bigger man said. "Well, I'll try to find what I can I guess. I'm gonna see if I can get this kid back to his family. Keep your radio on channel 3. I'll contact you if anything comes up. Let me know if you guys run into any trouble at the station."

"Will do," Marvin told him, walking off to join the rest of their squad.

The big man turned back towards me, a smile actually on his face.

"So Joe, where do you think they went?" he asked me.

I shrugged, having absolutely no idea in my mind.

"Not a clue," I admitted. "I figured they might have come back by now, but I guess not..."

He extended his arm, putting his hand in front of me.

"Let's do this the proper way," he began. "I'm Lieutenant Chase Wayne."

I put my right hand in his, and shook with a firm grip.

"Joseph Watson..." I replied. He released his hold on my hand, and brought his arm back down to his side.

"Alright, now that we have our introductions aside, it's time to make a plan," Chase told me. He turned his head around, surveying the area. His S.T.A.R.S. squad was running in the opposite direction we were facing. I heard some gunshots, but thought nothing of them.

"Uhm, any idea what's going on?" I asked him. "Where are all these things coming from?"

"Chris and Jill were right...," he muttered.

"Huh?" I asked him. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No, n-no, not at all... I wish I did," I could hear the lies faster than he could make them. I didn't think he had anything to do with it, but he was hiding something from me. "Alright, lets get going. We wouldn't want to get seen by anymore of those things."

He walked in front of me, and took off in the opposite direction of his comrades. I followed him, obviously having no other choice.

I just hoped that I'd find the others... before the zombies did.

Suddenly, Chase did something I didn't think he would; he turned around, and held a gun in my face. Not towards my face, but in it.

"You know how to use one of these?" he asked me. A gun? Of course I didn't know how to use a gun!

"Umh, yeah," I lied. He obviously knew I was lying; I could tell by the look on his face. "It's like a camera; you just point and shoot, right?"

"Something like that..." he passed the gun to me. It was a beautiful gun; I'd never seen anything like it.

He then passed me some black rectangular objects.

"What are these?" I asked him, taking them from him and pocketing them.

"Magazines," he told me. "Everytime you run out of ammo, you press the release button on the side of the gun-"

He pointed to a small button on the gun.

"That will release your old magazine from the gun. Once it's out, you put another one in, and make sure it's locked in. From there, I think you can figure it out..." he told me. He sounded a little too confident in me; I was sure I would figure it out, but _maybe_ I wouldn't...

He walked off again, and I followed.

Fox Street looked completely different just yesterday. Something told me in the pit of my stomach that this would be the last memory I'd have of it...

XXX

A/N: I decided to throw in another author's note. I hope you caught all the references to other Resident Evil characters. Also, bonus points for finding the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune reference! Well, I noticed that nobody's reviewed... are you all dead?! I need some feedback, so if you wouldn't mind...


	6. What Did We Do to Deserve This?

Chapter 5 – What Did We Do to Deserve This?!

September 29th, 1998 - Tuesday

Chase was a pretty good guy; he told me that he was able to get his family out of Raccoon City whenever all this started, but he decided to hang back because it was his sworn duty to protect the people. I don't think I would have hung back if I were him...

We hadn't done much. We'd been off of Fox Street for a few hours. I still couldn't shake the images out of my head. I could never return to my home... not if this thing spread.

I was actually able to get some information out of Chase about the situation: Umbrella, a pharmaceutical company that was apparently the leading supplier of medication around the world, had apparently been working on something they called the T-Virus. There was an accident in one of their labs, which is what caused the whole "Arklay Mountains Incident". Somehow, this virus got spread around the city just the day before, and it was now taking major affect. The creatures roaming around, it turns out, actually _were_ classified as "zombies". If you were bitten or scratched by a zombie, you were destined to become one. That made me understand what happened to Holly's dad; the huge gash in his shoulder... he had been attacked by a zombie, and it tore his whole fucking shoulder off. Had I not shown up when I did, Holly and her mom could have been zombies right now.

Anyway, Chase and I left Fox Street, and made our way around the area. We hadn't seen my family at all, no sign of them either... I was starting to fear that the zombies had gotten to them.

The sky was actually starting to get dark; a sign of nightfall. At least in the daylight, we knew where the hell we were going, what we were looking at... it wouldn't be long before we had absolutely no hope of surviving.

Suddenly, just when I thought Chase was about to give up hope as well, his radio started intercepting some garbled waves.

"It's Mar-" the radio partially received. "...station's under -ttack, we need he-p!"

"Dammit..." Chase sighed. "They need us; we're going to the station."

"Wait," I began. "Why didn't we just go there in the first place? You said so yourself; you knew the station was gonna be overrun with those things!"

"Look, there's no time," he told me in a firm voice as he turned around. "We need to get there, and quickly!"

He ran past me, picking up speed. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up. I couldn't lose him though; if I did, I would, without a doubt, have no chance of surviving. I mean, sure I knew my way to the police station; but from Fox Street. I had no idea at all where we were.

"Chase!" I called to him. "Wait up!"

Surprisingly, he didn't listen! He kept on running, so I kept on running, my legs growing more tired with each step I took.

"Chase!" I yelled again. "What in the hell are you doing?! Wait up!"

That got him to stop. He turned around with the angriest of looks on his face.

"Are you coming or not, Joe?" he asked me. He walked towards me. "If we don't hurry, my friends are going to die. I will _not_ live with that on my conscience."

I didn't know what to do... I could either go with Chase and risk getting myself killed, or I could go look for my family by myself sealing my fate. Obviously, it wasn't a tough decision.

"How long until we get there?"

XXX

The Raccoon Police Department looked like shit, and that was just from the outside. The place was crawling with zombies. Luckily, there was a big iron fence that looked like it had kept out many of them. We weren't sure how we were going to get in.

I studied Chase as he watched over the scene taking place before us.

He was absolutely unreadable; his face suggested he was ready to plow right through all the zombies and make it into the station, but his body language suggested otherwise... he was shaking more than me. Maybe he could have been shaking with anger, but I doubted it.

"Chase?" I whispered. "Are we going to be able to get in?"

He still kept his eyes on the station.

"I... I don't think so," he said, deep sadness in his voice. "All my friends..." His voice trailed off. I thought he was going to cry, honestly.

"We can always-" I began.

"No, it's alright; we both have a family to get back to," He reminded me, now facing me. "I'm going to see to it that you find yours. Marvin and the others knew what they were getting into when they decided to head back... if I could help them, I would, but at this point it would be suicide."

He looked back at the zombie infestation.

"God dammit..." he muttered angrily. "I swear... when we get out of here, I'm going to make sure Umbrella pays."

Suddenly, we heard gunshots to our right. I was completely surprised. Searching for the source, I spotted a man walking towards the entrance. His hair fell into eyes his, and he sported a large "RPD" logo on the back of his black uniform.

"Who is that?" Chase asked himself. "That must be our new guy..."

I watched as the man disappeared around the corner of the station.

"Well, should we go help him?" I asked Chase.

He shook his head. "I think he can handle himself. If he makes it inside, he can help the others." Chase stood up from behind the dumpster that was hiding us. "I'll see if Marvin picks me up on his radio."

He pulled his radio out of his back pocket, and put it up to his mouth. There was a buzz of static, and then he began to speak.

"Marvin? Marvin, do you read me?" he spoke into it. We waited for a few seconds, and then there was a reply.

"Awwwww.... Ch-Chase? That you?" came Marvin's voice over the radio. He sounded pretty messed up.

"Yeah buddy, it's me," Chase said. I noticed he now had tears in his eyes. "You don't... you don't sound too good."

Marvin coughed for a few seconds.

"They got to me Chase... the zombies," Marvin told him. "I was able to kill them... b-before they finished me, though... but if everything we've heard is true... I don't have much longer."

"Don't say that," Chase told Marvin, trying to hold back tears. "You're gonna get help."

"From who? I don't expect you to come in here...hell, I wasted your time telling you to come back," Marvin said. "Keep going... get the fuck out of the city... find the kid's family if you haven't already... just DON'T come in here for me. I'm probably the only one left..."

Suddenly, the radio cut out.

"Marvin? Marvin?!" Chase said, his voice cracking. "Shit..."

"You gonna be okay?" I asked Chase, surprised to see him crying.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll be alright, Joe... besides, Marvin said it himself; we have to get you to your family."

XXX

I was out of my fucking mind; we had searched for my family the whole damn day, and there was no sign of them. I couldn't believe they had just left me behind like this...

Chase and I decided to head back to my house, and look around there again. Maybe we had overlooked something.

As we neared my house, we spotted something that definitely could have been a sure sign that my family was near.

Lying on the ground a few blocks behind my house, was what looked to be a patch off of a pair of pajamas. And not just any patch; it was a patch that proudly displayed a name. The name on the patch was none other than "Braeden". They had most definitely gone through the area. Why my almost-teenage brother was wearing pajamas with his name on it, I don't know...

Chase pointed it out to me, and I immediately recognized it.

"Where do you think they went?" I asked him now that we had this new piece of information.

"Maybe they went-"

In a building right in front of us, somebody suddenly screamed. The scream was all too familiar... way too familiar.

I bolted for the building's entrance, pulling the handgun from the waist of my pants. I'd almost forgotten I had it.

"Hey, where are you going?" Chase asked me, pulling his handgun out as well.

"My girlfriend... she's in there!" I told him, pointing to the building.

"Your... girlfriend?" He asked. I rolled my eyes, and continued walking towards the building.

"If she's in there, my family's in there," I told him. We walked up the steps to the front door.

He got a confused look on his face. "How do you figure that?"

"Because, she was with them whenever my family ran out on me. So was her mom," I informed him.

I was getting very afraid that somebody else had been hurt... after all, why would Holly be the only one to scream?

I slowly opened the front door, and what I saw made me want to pass out right there.

Standing in front of the two of us were a group of men armed to the teeth; they all sported a red and white patterned umbrella on their uniforms... and they looked pissed; _majorly_.

"What the hell's going on here?!" Chase asked of the men, aiming his gun at them.

One of the men turned towards him.

"S.T.A.R.S.?" the man laughed. "I'd keep walking if I were you."

"I was just about to say the same to you," Chase said angrily, glaring at the men. "What do you want with this girl?"

"You'd better not hurt her," I spoke up, lifting my gun as well. "If you do anything to her, I'll kick your asses!"

They all laughed at that; after all, it looked like one of them could beat me without any limbs whatsoever.

"You'd better get out of town," one of the men said, speaking to Chase. "Word is, Umbrella's got a new weapon out looking for you guys... 'the ultimate weapon' they call it."

"Why would you be telling me that?" Chase asked. "Aren't you here doing Umbrella's work?"

"You never even gave us a chance to explain ourselves; we're here looking for survivors," the man replied. "We were trying to save this girl when you two came along."

Holly ran over to me, and pulled me into an embrace. She felt very cold; cold like ice.

"It's gonna be okay," I assured her. "I promise."

"We're leaving," Chase told the men. "I don't trust Umbrella..."

We turned around, and walked back out the door.

"Hey," the man called to Chase. He turned around.

"What?"

"Watch yourselves out there... I wasn't kidding when I said Umbrella had some kind of weapon after you guys. I've heard some stories about it..." the man said very seriously.

"Uhm... thanks for the heads-up," Chase thanked the man, not sure if he was lying or not.

We continued walking.

"Let's move out!" the man yelled to the group; he must have been the leader of that squad. They all ran past us, and before we knew it, they had disappeared into the night.

I turned to Holly, still holding her close as we walked.

"Where are the others?" I asked her. Once I did, she started to whimper.

"Oh Joey..." she said, tears streaming down her face. "It was awful..."

"No, no..." I said in denial. "Please, no. You're not the only one, you can't be!"

She shook her head. "I'm not the only one... your brother and sisters are all right."

"You mean..." the world started to spin around me, just like it did when Holly told me she loved me. I fell down right there, and looked up at the sky. "WHAT DID WE DO TO YOU?!"

"Joe, calm down!" Chase pleaded with me. "Be quiet or they'll hear you!"

I ignored him. "WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?!?!"

"Dammit Joe, be QUIET!" Chase yelled at me. I buried my face into the ground, and started to cry. I couldn't believe it; in just one day, I lost both my parents... Holly lost hers too.

"Joey, we still have each other," Holly cried, pulling me up to face her. "We have each other."

Despite all that she'd been through, Holly was able to put on a smile. It was a smile tainted with tears, but a smile nonetheless.

She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I wasn't sure how I ended up with her, but I did.

"Where... w-where did the others go?" I asked her.

She looked into my eyes. "They got out."

I wasn't sure what was going on... how could they get out, and...

"How'd they get out?" I asked her.

"Another group of those guys... the U.B.C.S. or something like that, found us a couple of hours ago. They checked over everyone... they all got taken but me."

"Huh?" I asked. "Why would...?"

I looked down at Holly's arm. How had I not noticed it before; Holly had a large bite mark on her arm.

No... no... this couldn't be happening. Why would God take everything away from me? What did I do to God? How did I upset Him?

"Holly, I can't lose you," I cried. "Oh please, I can't lose you!"

"They told me I had one shot..." she said. "They said there was a place underneath the hospital; they were dispensing something called 'Daylight' down there. It fights off the T-Virus, or whatever they called it. They couldn't take me though, because they had to get the others out."

Immediately, I stood up.

"Chase?" I called to my newest friend. He was messing with his radio. I hadn't even been paying attention to him for the past few minutes.

"Hmmmm..." he sighed. "Let me guess; you want to go to the hospital so we can get this 'Daylight' cure for your girlfriend?"

The moment he said "girlfriend", Holly's face got red. I smiled.

"That's _exactly _what I was hoping we could do."

XXX

A/N: Sorry that it took a few days to get this chapter up (though, it's not like anybody's reading it, so it doesn't really matter). I was going to put it up, but it would have been the size of the prologue, so I wanted to expand upon it just a little bit more. Aside from that, I was also busy playing Resident Evil 5 (I finally found all the BSAA emblems; yay!), so that kinda kept me from working on the story. I still have no reviews :( I'm not going to beg anyone, but come on; I have to know what I'm doing wrong or right. Thanks to those people that have read the story; you at least gave me a chance!


	7. Intermission: Author's Note

Intermission – A Note from AwesomeMcGeeofCaledonia

Wow... holy hell. Six months and seven days since the last update. That's a little more than half a year! I can't believe it took me that long to want to continue this story. Literally... half a year. I apologize to anybody who was following the story. I just seemed to lose in interest in writing a Resident Evil FanFic. With the recent belief that Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will be underneath the Christmas Tree this year, I got back into the old Resi-mood. Went overboard on the whole thing... I downloaded Resident Evil 2 and 3 from the PlayStation Store (sadly, I didn't get to experience these games first-hand, but rather had to watch my older brother beat them back in those days). It definitely made me want to get back to writing, and finishing, "But, Why Me?".

So, the point of this intermission? To assure you that I will be continuing this FanFic, and that I haven't abandoned it. The new chapter has been in the development stage for the past six months, and is finally about to see the light of day. What are you waiting for? Reread the story so you'll be up to speed when you finally find out just what the hell happens in the next chapter.

It's going to be strange writing more, though, and getting back into this corner I made for a Universe we all know and love. I'll have to learn how to put down the controller, and give Modern Warfare 2 a rest. Damn... time to get back to work.

End Transmission


	8. Save Our City

Author's Note - This needs to be said before you read this chapter: if you have played Resident Evil 3, you're going to notice one crucial scene in this chapter is completely out of continuity. I'll elaborate on this further in this chapter's ending Author's Note, but in case you already point it out, you'll understand.

Chapter 6 – Save Our City

September 29th, 1998 – Tuesday

Downtown Raccoon City sure looked a lot different than it had in that news footage I'd seen just that morning... a LOT different. Doors were literally ripped off of buildings, fires were raging everywhere, and cars were scattered all across the streets.

Almost everything had changed since yesterday, both the people and the city itself.

I looked over at Holly as Chase held her in his arms; she'd gotten very weak on her way over to the hospital.

"Chase, I think we'd better hurry," I told him, frightened. "Holly doesn't look too good."

"Thanks, Joey," she groaned, sounding very sick.

"You know what I meant," I replied, smiling.

"Don't worry," Chase reassured me. "We'll be there in just a few more minutes..."

I pulled my handgun out again; couldn't be too careful.

Aside from the zombies and those wacko U.B.C.S. guys, who knew what was in store for us.

The wound on Holly's arm sure looked a lot worse than it had when I first spotted it. If this "Daylight" cure was all a joke, my world would be over. Well, Holly's first, but then mine wouldn't last much longer.

Finally, we spotted a bright logo prominently displaying the words "Raccoon General Hospital". We had actually made it! Holly was going to be all right!

I couldn't have "spoken" any sooner.

Probably the _exact _moment I thought those words, a group of about seven or eight (maybe even nine!) zombies came up from the underground parking garage entrance.

They looked absolutely horrible, covered everywhere in blood.

I raised the handgun. I aimed for one of the zombies heads, and pulled the trigger; I couldn't have missed by a wider margin.

"Uhm, Chase; we have a problem!" I yelled to him, as I started to back up. "Put Holly down; _you_ kill these bastards... I have no idea how to use a gun!"

"Ah, so it's not like a camera after all?" He said, a smirk on his face. Slowly, he set Holly on the ground in a sitting-up position. He then quickly pulled his handgun out. "This is how you get to be apart of S.T.A.R.S. right here, Joe."

Why in the hell was he joking during a time like this?

Suddenly, there was a gunshot, and one of the zombies fell to the ground.

"There; dropped one of them!" Chase yelled. He pulled the trigger again, and dropped two of them with one bullet!

I couldn't believe how good a shot he was! He had killed (or, was it re-killed?) _three_ zombies in under_ three_ seconds! The mob had been reduced to a trio before we knew it.

I hadn't even made it over to Holly in the time Chase was keeping the zombies at bay. When I finally reached her, I held her close to me.

"Hey, don't worry," I whispered. "We're going to get you in there..."

"Joey..." she said, her voice almost giving out. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you... I love you so much."

"Hurt me?" I asked. "If anything, you've made me stronger."

Tears came down her face like a waterfall. For once, I actually wasn't sure if we were going to get her to the "Daylight" cure. Before I knew it, I started to cry as well.

"I'm sorry it had to happen like this..." she said, her voice slightly trailing off.

"Holly, you're going to be alright! We're..." I started to sob loudly, Chase's gunshots merely noises behind me.

I turned around.

"God dammit, could you hurry up?!" I yelled at him. "We have to get her inside!"

"Hey,"she said, a smile playing across her face. "You know I don't like it when people say 'G-D.'"

I couldn't return a smile. I wanted to; she was referring to what happened just the night before, so it was sort of like an inside joke you could say. I didn't return a smile though, because as much as I wanted to feel positive about all this, I was sure she wasn't going to make it. Before too long, she would turn into one of those things, and then...

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Chase's face, sweat pouring from his forehead.

"Let's get her inside," he told me, scooping Holly up in his arms.

Maybe I was wrong; maybe Holly did have a chance!

Chase took off, running as fast as he could. Because Holly caused his running to be slightly slower than before, I could actually keep up with him now. I noticed that he hadn't killed all the zombies; there were still a few writhing on the ground, but I guess he figured they wouldn't be causing us any problems in their condition.

I ran in front of Chase, and quickly opened the front door to the building. He stepped inside, and I soon followed. The lobby was freezing cold, but luckily void of any life besides the three of us.

"The place is _underneath_ the hospital, right?" I asked him, making sure I heard correctly.

"Yeah," Chase said, searching for a stairwell to the hospital's basement. "That's what the guy told us... ah, there we go!"

He took off for an area in the corner of the lobby. I ran after him, seeing a sign beside a door that clearly read, "EMPLOYEES ONLY, BASEMENT".

I once again opened the door for him, and he made his way down the steps, careful not to trip. It wasn't long before we reached the bottom of the winding stairs. Once our descent ended, I immediately noted our surroundings; it looked like any ordinary basement, only there was a small area set up against one wall, with a few beds laid out. It looked like a miniature science lab.

We spotted a man by the area. He sported a red-and-white patterned umbrella on his uniform just like the group of U.B.C.S. soldiers. When he saw us coming, his face suddenly twisted into a grin.

"Ah, so I see word got around, huh?" he asked us.

"Sir, you have to help our friend!" I pleaded. "We were told that there was a cure being distributed here, something called 'Daylight'".

"Distributed?" he asked, sporting an accent of unknown origin to me. "I've barely finished the first vaccine! I figured the others would spread rumors..."

I looked over at one of the beds; a woman with short red hair was laying down, apparently unconscious. The man noticed I was studying her.

"_My _friend also needs this cure," he told me, motioning towards her. Chase's eyes suddenly grew larger.

"Is that... Jill? Jill Valentine?" he asked the man. He nodded.

"She's become infected with one of Umbrella's many viruses. That's the reason I've been trying to create this cure; I've been trying to heal her," he informed us. "Fortunately, her immune system is probably one of the healthiest to have ever come into existence, so she could last quite awhile without any sort of medicine, even if it was that damned Nemesis that infected her."

"What do you know about the T-Virus?" I asked him. "Our friend here has become infected with it, and we-"

"The T-Virus?" he cut me off. "Hell then, I guess your friend can use this..."

He pointed to what he was working on. Some fluid floated around in a syringe; it was definitely not like any vaccine I'd ever seen.

"I was just about to inject it into Jill," he told us, picking the syringe up. "But your friend looks like if she doesn't get this shot, she's not going to last the next few minutes. Luckily, this vaccine can work against all Umbrella-manufactured viruses."

Without hesitating, he took up Holly's arm, lifted the syringe, and injected it into her skin. He pulled the syringe out.

"Well, I'll have to make another one, but at least I know how to now," he said. He laid the syringe down on the table behind us. "My name's Carlos by the way."

We didn't feel like introducing ourselves, so we kept our mouths shut.

"S.T.A.R.S., huh?" he asked Chase, a look of concern on his face.

"Uhm, yes... why?" Chase replied.

"Well... me and a few others were dispatched into the city to combat this new B.O.W. Umbrella released... something they called 'Nemesis," he said. "It was released with one sole purpose; to kill anyone who wears that uniform."

He pointed to Chase's uniform.

"We haven't had any luck, obviously," he laughed. "You should be careful out there..." Carlos's face smile changed from a grin, to a look of sadness. "You could end up like her."

He motioned towards Jill.

Jill Valentine... I knew I had heard that name... she was one of the S.T.A.R.S. members who claimed that Umbrella was behind all the mysterious murders, and something about a mansion... my parent's assured me that Umbrella couldn't be behind something so evil and twisted. Now I see they were wrong.

Chase turned towards me.

"Hey, hold on to her for me, will you Joe?" Chase asked, laying Holly onto my now-outstretched arms. She felt lighter than air. Once she was out of his arms, Chase turned towards Carlos, and they both walked over to Jill. I could hear them whispering something, but I didn't care enough to eavesdrop.

I sat down on the ground, still holding Holly.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her. She was still very pale, but at least she was moving.

"Sick... very sick... but something's different, I know that," she told me. "Like... I can't explain it. I know I'm not going to die, let's leave it at that."

Death; it was all around. When did life become so overrated?

My thoughts, for once, weren't on Holly... instead, I was now thinking about my family. Mom and Dad were gone... only my brother and sisters remained...

"Holly," I began, staring into space. "If- when we get out of here... I... let's not look for the others."

Her face twisted into one of confusion. "What are you talking about? You have to find them, Joey."

"No. Let them think I'm dead. I want... I want to start my life again, with you."

"Joey... we're only 15. We can't survive on our own. We'll find the others, and we'll find some help somehow."

"We can't. Leslie is 18; she'll take care of them. As for the two of us... look, we'll get by."

"Joey, let's concentrate on what's going on now," she told me, disapproval of the idea obvious in her voice. "What's Chase doing?"

I looked up at Chase and Carlos. What the fuck?

"CARLOS!" I yelled out; he had Chase at gunpoint. I stood up, laying Holly on the floor. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"This fool is infected," Carlos told me. "I only have enough vaccine left for one more person, and that person is Jill."

"Carlos, just put the gun down," Chase pleaded with him. "Listen, I have a family that is waiting for me. I need this vaccine. Or I at least need to know where I can find more of it."

"I... I'm sorry. I do not know where you can find anymore," Carlos said, his gaze falling to the floor. "If I knew, I swear, I would tell you."

Chase slumped to the ground. "So this is it then, huh? I'm going to turn into one of those things... a fucking freak."

I never heard Chase say another thing.

Just as he finished his sentence, the ceiling above him broke apart, and a tentacle of muscle and tissue came crashing through the top of his head. His body was pulled up through the hole.

"HOLY SHIT!" Carlos yelled, scrambling over to a machine. He pressed a button, and the machine started. "Take this!"

He unlatched an assault rifle of some kind that was attached to his uniform's vest. He threw it my way, and I failed to catch it. I dived onto it, and held it at the ready.

"What am I supposed to do?!" I called out to Carlos.

"Nemesis is hear!" he yelled. "Set the rifle to three-round burst, and fire on that son of a bitch when he comes down here. I'm going to make a second vaccine with the supplies we still have, and then we'll get out of here."

I would have had no idea what to do had my class not taken a trip to that ANG hanger last year. We got to learn a little about guns in a shooting simulator. I knew exactly how to switch this to three-round burst; I turned a little dial by the rifle's trigger from semi-automatic to three-round burst.

"Alright," I said out loud. I crawled over to Holly, who was breathing heavily.

"Joey... Joey... we need to get out of here," she told me, her voice shaking.

"We have to wait for Ca-"

Suddenly, the beast that was named "Nemesis" came crashing through the ceiling, Chase's headless corpse attached to a tentacle on its arm.

"Oh Jesus..." I whispered, almost puking.

"S.T.A.R.S.!" Nemesis growled.

Carlos pointed at me. "What the fuck are you doing?!" He then pointed at Nemesis. "KILL HIM!"

Oh, right.

I squeezed the trigger. Three bullets were forced from the rifle, and into Nemesis's torso. I actually hit him! But, to my surprise, he completely ignored the attack, as well as me. He was instead walking over to Carlos and Jill. That's when I noticed; he had multiple tentacles on his back that were pulling the ceiling down. Within a few seconds, the ceiling would collapse on Holly and I, and form a barricade between us and Carlos. We had to move.

"CARLOS!" I yelled. I threw the rifle his way. "We're getting out of here!"

The rifle hit his boots, and he picked it up. "Run kid, run!"

I picked Holly up once more, and searched around the room; a door! I walked as fast as I could, only being slowed down by Holly.

_God, give me all the strength you possibly can_, I thought.

I felt the shockwaves; the ceiling was coming down whether we were under it or not.

We had reached the door; with all my strength, I lifted my leg, and I kicked at the door. To my utter amazement, the door busted open.

With all my _remaining_ strength, I stumbled out the door just as the ceiling came down. I heard Nemesis give out a yell of agony, but nothing from Carlos.

I tripped, and fell right over Holly.

"Ow..." she groaned.

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized, picking her back up.

This city... so fucked up. I had no idea where we were. This street was strewn with more shit than I had ever seen in my life; cars, corpses... you name it.

"We're not going to make it," I muttered out loud, finally acknowledging the fact. "Holly, we're going to die in this city."

She moved her body around a bit, telling me that she could stand. I set her on her feet.

"Don't talk like that," she said, stumbling. "Who was it that said we would make it?"

I gazed up at the sky.

"I... did..." I slowly said.

"Joey," she began. "Make love to me."

My face twisted into a confused look.

"Huh?" I asked her. "Say that again."

"If we're not going to make it..." she said, walking closer to me, "Don't you want to know what it feels like?"

Something was wrong with this moment; we were standing in the middle of a destroyed city, having just barely escaped death... and I was being asked to have sex.

"Holly... do you realize what you just said?" I asked her.

"Yes. And... look, you know I've always wanted to wait until marriage... but Joey, it doesn't look like we're going to last that long."

Though the thought was something that didn't bother me... how would this be possible? Nowhere to go... instead of searching for a way out, were we literally going to look for some place to have sex?

"I... alright," I said, my eyes lighting up. "I love you, and if you love me enough that this is what you want to do... y'know, possibly make this the final thing before we could die... then..."

She nodded. "I'm sure this is what I want to do. I want to show you how much I do love you, Joey Watson."

Why was I feeling like the girl in this relationship all of a sudden?

"Alright," I began, my voice becoming stronger, now that I finally accepted what she had proposed. "Let's... try to find a room."

She laughed. "Lead the way."

Save our city.

XXX

Author's Note: Whoa! What the hell just happened? Yikes. What a strange way to end this chapter! The end of the story is almost near, though. One more full chapter, and then an epilogue, I think. OC stories are difficult, and this one hasn't proven any different. Now, to expand upon the opening A/N; in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Jill is in a chapel when she's infected, forcing Carlos to head to the nearby hospital, and create a vaccine with the only supplies he has. Carlos then returns to the chapel, and administers the vaccine. That all took place on October 1st. You may have noticed that my story completely changed that around. This is due to the fact that I had not yet played Resident Evil 3 prior to starting this chapter. I now have, but I didn't feel like going back and changing it. So, to anybody who noticed that, I apologize for stepping outside of the continuity there. Here's to a good follow-up! Leave some reviews, they're very appreciated!

.


	9. Everything Went Black

Chapter 6 - Everything Went Black

September 29th, 1998 - Tuesday

It was the greatest thing I'd ever had. Sex, I mean. I always thought of myself as the guy that would be able to stay abstinent until senior year, but after this, I couldn't believe I was willing to wait that long.

Holly and I had found an apartment complex just a few blocks from the hospital. We found a door that was wide open, I checked the room out real quick, and then after finding it was empty, we made ourselves at home. The whole situation was weird until we got started.

"That... was... wow... huh?" I said to Holly, taking many breaths of air.

"Yeah it... yeah..." she replied, breathing just as I was.

I looked up, straining my eyes in the slight darkness. My handgun was laying on the dresser of whoever originally owned the room. Couldn't be too careful about remembering where it was.

"What now?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

I shook my head. "I really don't know. I really don't know..."

We'd done it. What else was there to do? We were fucked. We weren't getting out of the city. Maybe we could wait until the government finally decided to help out. Could we last that long? Would they come and help?

"Uh... hey, get dressed," I told Holly, rolling out of the bed. I reached down to the floor and picked up my boxers and jeans. I slipped them on, and then turned around to find Holly putting her bra back on.

"What's wrong?" she asked me, a worried look on her face.

I sighed, reaching down for my shirt, and put it on as well. "We have to keep moving."

"Bu- what? We're safe here!"

I shook my head, some part inside of me had snapped. "We thought we were safe at my house, remember? Look what happened there... my fucking family's gone because of these mother fucking... ZOMBIES!"

"My family's gone, too..." she said in a hushed voice, looking down at the ground.

Why was I getting angry with her? She didn't do anything wrong. Not at all.

"I'm sorry, Holly. I'm sorry," I quickly apologized. "It's just, this whole day... God, everything's different. Just yesterday, we had our whole lives ahead of us, and now? We have maybe the whole night ahead of us now... if that."

I couldn't afford to be optimistic in our situation. We were screwed whatever way you looked at it.

"Joey, don't you-"

She didn't dare finish. A moan suddenly interrupted her sentence. I whirled around, searching for something, anything. But there was nothing.

"Get behind me," I told her, and I jumped towards the dresser, grabbing my gun from the top. My hand was violently shaking, so I was very lucky not to have dropped it. I moved towards a closed door. I could hear something scraping against it. How the fuck could I not have known there was a zombie in this apartment?

"God dammit, so fucking stupid..." I muttered under my breath, gun raised.

The moaning continued as we slowly crept towards the door. When we reached it, I put my hand to the knob. My cold, sweating, shaking hand.

"Holly, I'm going open the door, and you just stay as far away behind me as you can," I told her, and she nodded.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and then turned the door knob. I pushed the door open, heard a loud crash, and then the screeching of metal. I took a look behind the door, and saw that I had pushed a zombie into a shower, the curtain wrapped around its torso. Thinking fast, I got as close as I dared to the zombie, pushed the gun to its forehead, and pulled the trigger. The kick of the gun, combined with my odd angle of holding it, was enough to send it flying out of my hands. The zombie's brains patterned the inside of the shower, so I wasn't complaining. It was when I turned around that I realized I was in trouble.

Behind me was a second zombie. It was so close to my face that I could smell its rancid breath, feel the heat from its labored breathing...

I raised my hands to its neck, attempting to strangle it, or just keep it as far the hell away from me as possible. Its outstretched arms pushed into my shoulders, attempting to get me off of it. The fucker had some sharp nails, because the next thing I knew, it was digging them into the tops of my arms.

"GAH! FUCK!" I screamed, tightening my grip. Suddenly, it got the upperhand, leaned down towards my neck, and-

Its whole fucking head flew off of its shoulders. I stared at the headless corpse as blood spurted from its neck. After a few moments, I realized I was still alive, and I pushed the still-standing body to the ground. I turned to my right: Holly was standing in the doorway, my handgun still aimed in my direction, the barrel smoking. After a few moments, she lowered the gun and fell to her knees crying.

I hadn't recovered yet. If I knew we were going to die, why did I worry so much about that zombie? Why didn't I just let it eat me?

"Don't cry," I said in a hollow voice, staring straight ahead of me. "I love you..."

Then everything went black.

XXX

When I came to, I had no idea where I was. I could hear the moans of the dead, crackling of fire, but...

"Holly?" I called out, my eyes adjusting to my surroundings. "Holly?"

After getting no response, I sat back down. I was alone.

But I wasn't alone.

There she was. I jumped back up, light as a feather. She was there. She was different.

"No... no, no, no, no, no, NOOOOOOO! NO! GOD DAMMIT!"

There was something else in Holly's body. She was gone.

Even if I wanted my gun, I couldn't grab for it. I didn't have it.

I fell to my knees... the last thing I'd seen Holly do. I didn't know where I was, what had happened, how much time had passed.

"... get it over with..."

Holly's form stalked towards me, swiping at the air, empty moans and groans cutting through the silence.

"Just don't make it last. Just get it over with."

Once she had reached me, she was suddenly filled with an instant burst of speed. Her teeth sank into my stomach, her nails clawed at anything they could get at. And I didn't scream

XXX

"Joey! Please Joey, wake up!"

It was her! It had been a dream!

I opened my eyes. I was lying on the bathroom floor of the apartment, Holly crouched over me, tears in her eyes.

"We have to go," I told her, standing up. I grabbed her around the waist, and hoisted her up as well. "We're getting the hell out of here, we're getting out of this state, we're getting married, I want to have 9 kids, I want to live to be 100-"

"Joey, we can't go," she said, a frown on her face. "The city's... they're going to destroy it."

No hope.

A/N: Nobody's following this anymore. However, I have to get it finished. Following this will be a short epilogue sometime. Yes, even shorter than this chapter. I have to get this done, though. I can't stand seeing it incomplete.


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